Se7en’s Fabulous Friday Fun #84

1. Feel like a great game: A Paint Chip Board Game from Alpha Mom…
2. Feel like Crafting with your kids: The Best Online Craft Projects to Do With Kids. Would you look at this wonderful list of crafty goodness, you have to find soothing you like on it!!!
3. Feel like playing with your kids: And Childhood 101’s Playopedia is out of this world for fun things to do.
4. Feel like traveling: We are so mad for maps and I just love the world map idea from Studio Skinky, I think I may just set it as an assignment for my guys… there’s a map, make some stickers and add in some landmarks… fun!!!
5. Feel like a fabulous read: Head straight over to Meet Me At Mikes… She asked folks where they live, and the comments just filled up. I read and read, it’s intriguing!!! Loved it!!!!

6. Feel like arting: Daisy Yellow posted the ultimate guide to everything you could possibly want to know about art journaling…everything… Brilliant!!!
7. Feel like a magazine then head over to Sweet Paul… I loved everything here!!!

And the se7en+1th Thing: If you feel like organizing!!!



8. This week on Org Junkie’s 52 Weeks we are at Week 34: Setting Boundaries and Limits.

We had a strange week of power failures and tentative internet… and I tell you that is the best thing for getting stuff done!!! We are exactly half way through our school year and last week I did a declutter of all the kids clothes and their personal treasures… When I started 52 Weeks at the beginning of the year it took a week per kid to work through their stuff item by item. I couldn’t believe it but it didn’t take more than a few hours to go through everyone’s stuff this time round. It really does make a difference getting round to it more often.



Anyway since we are halfway through the school year I decided this was the week to get a grip on our school supplies and retrain a few recalcitrant papers back into their files, books back on the shelves and a big stationary sort… If the pen doesn’t work toss it!!! I had a morning at home with just my three little kids and we had such fun going through the markers – does it work or not? I promised to show you my kids personal stationary boxes that we are using for school this year… They love them… everything they need in one place and it is their own!!! We have always had communal gear before, I tell you the truth they take extra special care of their own stuff and they love being able to take it wherever they are working – indoors or outdoors, and so on. It has really worked for us to have all their stuff in one place as well… Here you go: se7en + 1 Stationary boxes for school:



And then because it was going so we well and we had sorted so many things, when I saw the 7-Day Toy Cure on Ohdeedoh we just dived right in… I got the kids onboard and we sorted and tidied and packed away all week and by the weekend everything was fabulous…



• Day 1: Create an Outbox, Touch and Evaluate Every Toy. We have an outbox, and it is so true – you have to touch every item: do you want it or not… it is amazing how much stuff you just don’t want anymore, the kids don’t want it enough to find a place for it… they really do grow out of stuff and they really each have their own likes and dislikes.

• Day 2: Touch and Evaluate Every Toy Continued. We used this day to put everything where it belonged, because we only have a limited array of toys it is fairly easy to see where everything belongs. Migration is a problem though, it seems in the day to day of life, it isn’t so easy to return things to their home. There were Zoobs in every nook and cranny of our house!!! Now everything is back where it belongs in the bins under the bed – lovely!!!

• Day 3: Arts and Crafts Supplies. I have really kept our supplies simple this year… And so while the kids have kept their stuff tidy, it wasn’t too hard to tidy up the communal arty materials and it was quite a fun afternoon to sort and shuffle and neaten up!!!

• Day 4: Books and Media. My favorite thing to sort and I love filtering books… if it isn’t a favorite I pass it on… If it isn’t being read or referred to or looked at then I pass them on. It has gone from not fitting on the shelves to a really tight squeeze to the point where we even have gaps on our book cases… you just have to do it over and over again… refining, refining, refining. I think that may be a key yo decluttering, I always want to do a massive clean-out and then live a little, press repeat… But it really works if you just say “five things into the out box everyday” and up the number when things get chaotic… Consistency is key!!! So the kids books are sorted, can’t say the same for the adult books. And just love a neat book case!!!

• Day 5: Clean and Repair. We had a huge book repair a couple of weeks back, there is always a pile of books to be mended!!! The fun about this assignment was the cleaning… baby dolls were washed and spring cleaned and tiny teddy bear and doll clothes were flapping on a little wash line… fun!!! I don’t want my kids to think that all organizing and decluttering is dullsville, so it was nice to have a fun play and clean and sort!!!


I have to say, we all enjoyed The 7-Day Toy Cure, thanks Ohdeedoh!!! I love the assignments, there is always an element of fun in them. And our toys are all sorted and our house is good to go the next half of our school year on Monday.

That’s us!!! Have a fun weekend!!!